I'm sure we can all admit when we feel challenged as a father; when we think to ourselves, "I have no clue how to handle this." We all come up against these barriers, and as a new father, I ran into that for the first time when Ashley would not stop crying as a newborn. It was, to say the least, frustrating for Amy and I. Here we are, brand new parents, doing all the things the books suggested and she just kept crying.
It turned out she had acid reflux. Ashley was born three weeks early, and her digestive system just wasn't fully developed yet. We were relieved by this outcome for two reasons: the first being that we knew what to do to help her, and the second being that it wasn't our fault she was constantly crying. Once we got Ash on the medicine, she became a much more pleasant baby and we finally started sleeping again.
I share this because I think we have all questioned the quality of our own parenting skills. For me, in this instance, I felt like a bad father because I couldn't even comfort my own child. Even though I felt like this, even though we may all feel like this at times, it's not because of us or our abilities, but the circumstances surrounding the situation. The most we can hope for is to control the internal forces and adapt to the external forces.
I invite any of you to share a time when you felt challenged as a father and how you adapted and solved the situation. I welcome any questions you may have as well. Thank you for reading.
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